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Sun-Walking Knights
'The Sun-Walking Knights' '' Purpose: Liberty, Fraternity, Equality. ''Doctrine: ''The Knights operate on three basic principles: #Equality is necessary, not desirable. The Knights believe they have a responsibility to all mortals entangled in the Requiem, whether they are ghouls or not. They are duty-bound to show them a better way and enlighten them about the liberties possible under the Sun-Walkers. #One must trust some. The system takes a little trust to work, and you get trust by giving it. #Contribution trumps condition. Kindred require blood to survive, which Pillars can provide. Ghouls require Vitae to survive, which Kindred can provide. Kindred require certain services during the day, which either Ghouls or Pillars can provide. Each is valuable, and an individual's worth should not be solely determined on the category into which she falls. ''Membership: ''The Sun-Walking Knights is particularly appealing to ghouls, and many of the Kindred who are members were deftly introduced to it by the ghouls that serve them. Unlike most Shadow Cults, neither ghouls nor mortals are restricted in status. They are the Sun-Walkers for which the Conspiracy is named; to the Kindred the Conspiracy is better known as L'Ombre Sans Nom, 'The Unnamed Shadow'. Those Kindred who are not brought in by their ghouls are usually neonates, either those who are philosophically opposed to the idea of emotional enslavement or those who are freaked about their Clan flaws. There are no restrictions for Clan or Covenant, but their members are most frequently drawn from the Carthian Movement. Mortal members (called 'Pillars') are blood-dolls, lured by the pleasure of the Kiss. The Sun-Walking Knights take great care to keep their existence secret. Some of their members are ''frieghuls, ''free ghouls whose regnants are not members of the cult, and their lives would be forfeit if they were discovered. Indeed, it's possible that the Kindred might react genocidally should they be unable to identify exactly which ghouls were compromised. 'Benefits' • ''Kindred ''at this level get one free dot of Herd, representing the eager donations of Pillars who enjoy being fed upon. ''Ghouls ''are guaranteed one point of Vitae a month to maintain their condition. ''Pillars ''gain the pleasure of the Kiss, and some knowledge of what the Requiem is and what the Masquerade requires, represented by a Specialty in Occult (Kindred) •• The initiation ritual enacts a fundamental change to the blood. ''Kindred ''find their Clan curse ameliorated, at the price of robbing their Vitae of the ability to form the vinculum (though it remains highly addictive and can create ghouls as usual). ''Ghouls ''find that the next drink of their regnant's Vitae severs the vinculum, though they remain blood-addicted and still take pleasure in the Kiss. ''Pillars ''receive the Producer Merit, their bodies growing accustomed to being frequently fed upon. ••• ''Kindred ''find their interactions with Humanity are eased by not having the temptation simply to remove the human's free will. They may buy Humanity dots at half price. Unfettered by the Vinculum, ''Ghouls ''have acquired some resistance to the supernatural powers of those who might control them. Ghoul characters gain the Indomitable Merit free of charge. ''Pillars ''learn how to talk a Kindred down from frenzy, a vital skill for long-term survival among the weakest of the Sun-Walking Knights. They receive the 'Beast Whispers' Merit free of charge. •••• ''Kindred get a free Touchstone, representing a non-Kindred cult member who they may treat as though the Touchstone had the Beloved Merit. Ghouls ''can be assumed to be feeding on Shadow-Cleansed Kindred frequently enough that it disrupts any bloodbonds that are formed from drinking outside the covenant. Ghoul characters receive the Weakened Bond Merit. ''Pillars ''at this level are protected by their more powerful cult-mates, and gain the Protected Merit free of charge. ••••• ''Kindred ''and ''Ghouls ''gain the Merit Cleanse the Shadow (•••) free of charge. They cannot make use of this Merit unless they possess the prerequisite of Occult 3+. To date, no ''Pillar ''has reached this level of status. 'Merit' Cleanse the Shadow (•••) The process is deceptively simple. The Kindred writes out a contract stating, 'I hereby pledge my loyalty to the Sun-Walking Knights above all others, renouncing the practice of blood slavery and pursuing relief from the curse of my kind.' The Professor (a term for anyone who possesses this Merit) countersigns with her own blood, the contract is burned, and thereafter the signer can set no Vinculum and has reduced clan banes as follows:. ''Daeva ''gain +2 to their Humanity checks to resist the Persistent Dependent Condition. When the Condition does apply, it fades after a year as if it were a regular Vinculum. ''Gangrel ''cap their dice pools to resist frenzy by Humanity + 2 instead of Humanity. ''Mekhet ''do not receive a penalty for Humanity-based banes. Their inherent bane from simply being Mekhet remains, but this does not count against the limit for how many banes a Kindred may have. ''Nosferatu ''treat their Humanity as only one dot lower when dealing with humans, instead of two. In addition, failures are treated as dramatic failures only for Persuasion and Socialize rolls. ''Ventrue ''regain Willpower from defending their Touchstones as normal, and remove the cap on how big a bonus they can get from multiple Touchstones. They still apply their first Touchstone to their seventh dot of Humanity, and still need to buy any extra Touchstones as normal. 'Source''' ''The Danse Macabre, ''pp 122-125. Category:Cults Category:Shadow Cults Category:Sun-Walking Knights Category:Translations Category:Merits